Mother of Oamaru hitandrun victim embraces offender
IN a touching gesture, the mother of the 14yearold Oamaru girl killed in a hitandrun in October embraced the man responsible for her daughter’s death.
Wendy Blackie spoke briefly to Joshua John Chellew (30) outside the Oamaru District Court yesterday after he was sentenced by Judge Joanna Maze, then hugged him.
He had earlier pleaded guilty to one charge of failing to stop to ascertain injury after he hit Zara Blackie with his car in Oamaru’s Severn St, near the intersection with Cross St, about 10.40pm on October 23.
Family members and supporters of both Zara and Chellew were in court for the sentencing and remained silent throughout.
Mrs Blackie said she accepted the sentence.
‘‘The judge has got her job, like we have all got our own. She judged it how she thought it was fair. It’s the way it is — nothing is going to bring Zara back.
‘‘It’s been a long time to have to wait, but there are so many processes you have to go through to come to a result.’’
Mrs Blackie said the family did not know how many people Zara had affected until shortly after she died and tributes started to flow.
‘‘From all of the children and teenage kids . . . since she has passed, we have discovered how she touched so many different people’s lives, both old and young.’’
The Blackie family was now ‘‘closer than it had ever been,’’ she said.
At his first appearance in the Oamaru District Court last year, Chellew was granted continued name suppression. That was lifted yesterday.
The court heard that on the night Zara died, Chellew had been drinking and smoking cannabis with friends at his Oamaru home.
About 10.30pm, he was driving, with his girlfriend a passenger, on State Highway 1. As he crossed the Oamaru Creek bridge, Zara ran out on to the road from behind the bridge abutment.
She tripped or stumbled into the path of the car and Chellew was unable to avoid hitting her.
The vehicle, which did not have a valid warrant or registration, struck Zara’s head and upper body, causing blunt force trauma injuries.
Chellew slowed momentarily before fleeing the scene at high speed southwards.
He stayed the night with a friend, before handing himself in to police the next morning.
At the sentencing, Judge Maze said it was ‘‘never possible to standardise the impact’’ of smoking cannabis on an individual, and all that was known objectively was that he had smoked a quarter of a joint.
‘‘He knew nothing other than he was prepared to risktake,’’ she said.
Chellew’s lawyer, Catherine Henry, said her client was ‘‘deeply remorseful’’.
‘‘This was a case of an incredibly unfortunate wrong place at the wrong time for the person behind the wheel and the victim. If it was any other place on the road, he would have been able to stop on that road.
‘‘He had absolutely no time to react.’’
She sought a starting point for sentencing of between 10 and 14 months’ imprisonment, while police, who argued Chellew should not even have been driving, sought 18 months.
Chellew’s sentence was converted to four months’ home detention for his early guilty plea and the stringent bail conditions previously placed on him. He was also ordered to pay $4000 reparation to Zara’s family.